Eustis Bridge, May 2011  (Photo: Niels Jensen)

With a longstanding interest in covered bridges, Louise Abbott was delighted when Hamlet Heavy Timberwork asked if she would document their restoration of the Eustis Bridge near North Hatley in the Eastern Townships.  Louise  has completed a fifteen-minute video about the restoration and is also working on a longer documentary on the history of covered bridges in Quebec. On October 7, the restored bridge was lifted from terra firma back onto its abutments over the river in Eustis. Louise's video,  A New Life for an Old Bridge,  is now on YouTube.  A French-subtitled version can also be seen: Une nouvelle vie pour un vieux pont. 

Eustis Bridge, October 2011 (Photo: Louise Abbott)

If you'd like to know  more about covered bridges in Quebec and elsewhere in eastern Canada, you can read a feature story that Louise wrote for Heritage magazine in 2004: http://www.heritagecanada.org/eng/news/archived/fall2004/feature.html

(Photo: Louise Abbott)

Louise Abbott continues to videotape the work-in-progress on the beautiful nineteenth-century high-drive barn that Neil Manson dismantled near Knowlton's Landing and is resurrecting on his property in Austin. Here Neil and his helpers are planing the floorboards for the barn on November 27, 2011. Neil plans to lay the floorboards over the winter. Louise will eventually produce a video documentary that will be available in DVD format.

The short-lived Gibraltar Hotel can be seen across from Georgeville in this nineteenth-century view of Lake Memphremagog by W.S. Hunter.

Louise Abbott and Niels Jensen are now at work on an illustrated history of Lake Memphremagog. It will feature a text based on archival research and oral history interviews by Louise,  along with historical images and contemporary photos by both Niels and Louise.

Do you live or have you lived in the vicinity of Lake M emphremagog? Do you have stories to tell about the lake? Do you have old pictures taken on or around the lake? If the answer to any of these questions is "yes," we'd love to hear from you! Our email address is: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Gibraltar Point today.

The first edition of   Eeyou Istchee (2,000 copies) has nearly sold out! The book will be reprinted, however, by mid-March of 2012.

Eeyou Istchee: Land of the Cree/Terre des Cris

Louise Abbott and Niels Jensen

Published by the Cree Outfitting and Tourism Association

Hard cover, sewn binding, 252 pages, over 200 photographs

View a short video about the book on YouTube:

"The book is a startling 200-photo essay.... Featuring interviews and conversations with the Cree of Eeyou Istchee in English, French and Cree, the book is ideal to teach young Crees about their culture and inspire discussions about Cree ancestry between young and old."  The Nation, December 3, 2010

"L'imposant ouvrage -- 252 pages, plus de 200 photos -- est une mine d'informations sur la chasse, la pêche et la trappe, mais aussi la préparation et la cuisson de la banique, la préparation de la viande et du poisson, le travail des peaux, la fabrication de paniers d'écorce et de raquettes. Les non-autochtones sont invités à suivre les rassemblements saisonniers: la chasse à l'orignal, la marche hivernal, la chasse à la Bernache, les festivités estivales. Et aussi la céremonie des premiers pas." La Presse, Montreal, 3 décembre 2010

"From the very beginning, Eeyou Istchee takes readers on an adventure into the land of the Cree. With over 200 striking photographs, the book offers reader hours of pleasure and delight. Whether you read Eeyou Istchee from cover to cover or simple open it at random, both the black and white archival pictures and the colorful modern photographs offer a glimpse of the Cree way of life : the caribou hunt, fishing, winter walks, children's activities, flora and fauna, and portraits of the elders. Some of the landscapes, taken by award-winning photographers Abbott and Jensen, look like actual paintings. The trilingual text - written in English, French, and Cree - adds to the book's charm." Montreal Review of Books, Montreal, Spring 2011

"Eeyou Istchee: Land of the Cree ... is a remarkable photographic journey into the territory of the Cree of northern Quebec. There are stunning views in this book, and the authors have done an excellent job selecting, researching and presenting the material." Matthew Farfan, The (Sherbrooke) Record, December 9, 2010

"I have read your section on the history [of the Eeyouch] and wanted to congratulate you for so ably encapsulating the main events, with Cree insights and in a very appealing style. Cannot wait to get to the rest and enjoy the beautiful photographs."  Toby Morantz, Co-author of Partners in Fur: A History of the Fur Trade in Eastern James Bay and author of The White Man's Gonna Getcha: The Colonial Challenge to the Crees in Quebec.